Wes Johnson, stationed at the free-throw line, saw Onuaku’s move to establish inside position and hit him with a nifty bounce pass.

Onuaku finished the play with a ferocious two-handed slam dunk and then flexed for the TV camera that he had nearly obliterated.

Onuaku’s dunk gave Syracuse an eight-point lead over Marquette with 12 minutes remaining in Saturday’s game at the Carrier Dome. The play culminated an 8-minute run to start the second half in which Syracuse seized upon a huge size advantage over Marquette’s height-challenged frontcourt.

Syracuse scored 20 points in those eight minutes with all 20 coming in the lane or on free throws as a result of post plays.

Syracuse used its inside dominance to build a lead big enough to withstand a furious Marquette rally for a 76-71 victory over the Golden Eagles in front of 29,011 fans at the Carrier Dome.

“In the second half, we made an effort to get it inside and we were ready,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We do have a big size advantage. I thought we really exploited that and played probably the best basketball defensively and offensive we’ve played all year for that 15 or 16 minutes in the second half.”

Hayward and Jimmy Butler, Marquette’s two biggest starters, both stood just 6-foot-6. That meant that Onuaku and his frontcourt colleague Rick Jackson, both 6-foot-9, enjoyed a 3-inch height advantage over their opponents. Onuaku weighs 36 pounds more than Hayward, while Jackson weighs 25 pounds more than Butler.

Onuaku and Jackson scored 12 points apiece for the Orange, while combining on an 11-for-12 shooting performance. It was just the second time in seven Big East games that Onuaku and Jackson both reached double-figures.

“Coach just wanted to get the ball down there,” Jackson said. “He felt their guys were little down there and we could take advantage. I think that worked out for us.”

The fifth-ranked Orange led by as many as 17 points in the second half, but saw the advantage shrink to four points in the final minute. Despite the shaky ball-handling and mediocre free-throw shooting, Syracuse survived to run its record to 19-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big East.

It’s just the fourth time in Boeheim’s 34-year coaching tenure that the Orange has been 19-1 after 20 games.

Onuaku and Jackson dominated the opening minutes of the second half, but not everything came easy for the Syracuse big men. In the early stages of the game, the Golden Eagles repeatedly tore the ball away from Onuaku and Jackson when they got the ball close to the basket.

“It’s tougher when they’re small,” Onuaku said. “Traditionally, you just catch the ball ... and they’re going to body up. But they’re trying to slap, take charges and things like that. So you’ve got to approach the game a little different.

“We just had to be a little more patient and get the ball in a comfort spot,” Onuaku added. “Just catch the ball and go up real quick.”

Johnson even got in on the act, posting up Marquette’s David Cubillan who was giving away seven inches. Johnson scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the paint.

“We did a great job of executing the high-low,” said Syracuse guard Andy Rautins, who failed to score a point for the first time since the season-opener against Albany, but did have six assists. “We did a better job of half-court offense than we have all season in the first 15 minutes of the second half.”

The final stats revealed Syracuse’s size advantage and its ability to take advantage of it.

The Orange outscored Marquette 56-22 in the paint. Syracuse had 13 second-chance points to just three for the Golden Eagles. Syracuse shot a whopping 58 percent from the field despite going 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

“They’re face-guarding Andy and we’re going to play 4-on-4 and they have no help side,” Boeheim said. “So we can throw the lob pass inside. In the first half, we didn’t do it very well. In the second half, we did it well and we got layups. We got 15-16 layups in the second half. Arinze got four. Ricky got three or four. Wesley had probably five or six.”

Syracuse also finished with a season-high 46 rebounds, while Marquette collected only 21 boards.

“I thought we rebounded,” Boeheim said. “For the first time this year, we got on the boards. I think that’s something we’ve got to do. When you have a size advantage, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

The Golden Eagles hit 10 of 25 from 3-point range, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the pounding they took close to the basket.

Time and again on Saturday, the Post Man delivered.

“That was our main objective to get the ball in the post,” Onuaku said. “We just tried to clear it out so I could get the ball in the lane.”